The Carolinas have excellent bass fishing waters and plenty of great anglers, including a handful fishing the 2022 Bassmaster Classic on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. This group of anglers is all capable of winning the event and have earned the title of local favorites for their familiarity with the lake. Originally from North Carolina, Bryan New now lives in Saluda, South Carolina, near Lake Murray and roughly an hour and a half away from Green Pond Landing and Event Center, the tournament launch site, and is one to watch at this event.
Hartwell Has Grown on Him
Even though he’s fished Hartwell for years and had some success, New was never a big fan of the lake. That all changed recently when he switched up his approach and the way he tackled the big lake.
“I’m very familiar with it and hated it for a long time,” he said. “I barely missed a check there in the last big tournament I fished there, a Bassmaster Open, but I realized I had been approaching it wrong all along. I always felt like I was missing something since the lake is so big and decided the best approach is to stick in one area and not eat up so much time running around.”
With his renewed outlook on the lake, he’s confident going into the event and thinks it will be good based on recent weather patterns in the region.
“Driving to the event, I had my A/C on in the truck and that’s a good sign that things are going to happen much quicker this year,” he said. “The weather was fairly cold a month ago, but it’s gotten warmer and there has been some rain. That should lead to some dirty water on the lake somewhere.”
Winning Patterns
With plenty of tournament history on the lake available online, including the coverage of three prior Bassmaster Classics, most anglers have a good feel for what to expect during this year’s edition.
“Everyone knows about the ditch stuff and that could be a good bite, especially early in the morning with an underspin and Zoom Fluke Jr.,” said New. “It could also be a shaky head out deep or around brushpiles and docks. There are tons of docks on Hartwell and they are always a factor.”
With the recent rains and stained water, New believes some anglers will find some success targeting the creeks.
“The wildcard this week will be the stained water and if someone can find enough of it to carry them through for three days of fishing,” he said. “The way the lake is set up, there are not that many places that get dirty water when it rains and they are all pretty far apart.
He feels that spinnerbaits, squarebills, and ChatterBaits will play if he goes for the stained water approach.
If he could choose a way to catch them, he’d pick his signature series finesse jig, the Greenfish Tackle Bryan New Bad Little Dude jig.
“I’d like to fish that around docks and a little bit offshore,” he said. “It’s a great jig size that can catch both largemouth and spotted bass. But, I don’t really care how I end up catching my fish, as long as I catch them.”
Watching the Forecast
The weather is always something to watch in the spring and should be pretty good for the Classic competitors fishing Hartwell, but New is ready for anything.
“I love my AFTCO Hydronaut rain gear but will probably be wearing my Anhydrous 2.0 jacket and bibs since it won’t be too cold,” he said. “They are really comfortable and breathable. That’s my go-to when it’s a little chilly in the morning but not extremely cold.”
By the end of each tournament day, the anglers will be fishing with forecasted temperatures well into the 70s.
“Each afternoon, I’ll probably be in my AFTCO Samurai long sleeve hooded sun shirts and some AFTCO shorts,” he said. “I love wearing their sun shirts because they are all so comfortable and all of their shorts are great. They have all of the tech features I want like pockets in the right places; they’re very comfortable to wear fishing and anywhere really.”
As one of the locals, Bryan New has plenty of experience with Lake Hartwell and has a good idea of how the fishing will be. In just his second year on the Elite Series, he’s already won a blue trophy and hopes to add a Bassmaster Classic title in just his second try. To get there, he knows he’ll have to make the right decisions for where to fish and whether to go for the stained water shallow bite or the more reliable deep bite.
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